


Coming Home

by teaearlgreyhot



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen, Jenny is discussed a lot but not actually in this, because dad giles is the best giles, dad Giles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 13:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12818382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaearlgreyhot/pseuds/teaearlgreyhot
Summary: What if, instead of running away from her life, Buffy ran to something?Set just after Becoming Part Two





	1. Chapter 1

Buffy had the bus ticket in her hand. It would be easy, to run. She packed her things, she left a note. Well, not easy. Nothing’s ever easy. But it would be _better_ , to be someone else completely. She didn’t ask for this power, and she fulfilled her duty, didn’t she? She stopped the world from ending twice. Kendra should’ve been able to take over by now. She wasn’t supposed to be a file in the Sunnydale Police Department’s homicide unit cabinet with Buffy’s name listed under “main suspect.”

The Greyhound was leaving in less than a half an hour. LA would be different. She could get a shitty job and live in a shitty apartment and go by a new name. Something simple. Buffy stood out. Buffy was loud and attention grabbing, and she never needed another pair of eyes to look at her with expectation.

Buffy’s hands didn't shake when she held the sword and plunged it through Angel’s chest. They didn't have to be steady, in hindsight. She wasn't met with resistance. Maybe that's why she couldn't keep them still now, with the bus ticket being crushed in her jittering fist. Maybe she was just catching up. Did she even want to leave? A half second of introspection told her no. She loved her friends. She loved Giles. She loved her mom, though she couldn't go back to her. There wasn't an option for her in Sunnydale anymore. Even if she could swallow seeing Angel in every shadow, if she could prove her innocence to the police, if she could pretend she wasn't fundamentally changed to her core, there was no home anymore. It wasn't like she could live with her dad, and not just because of the distance.

It was stupid, how Buffy sometimes wished Giles was her dad. It felt embarrassing just to think about, and she knew it was ridiculous. As if Giles would want a kid, any kid, around all the time. She had only slept in his apartment a handful of times, always after bad patrols, in the den which became a guest room a few weeks after Buffy moved to Sunnydale. A suspiciously feminine guest room, Buffy noted for the first time.

...Was that for her? Maybe the blush colored sheets and tacky crystal bedside lamp were just on sale. No one else stayed in that room, though. Not that Buffy knew of. She was sure it didn’t mean anything. He was just being a good watcher, giving her a place to spend the night when she couldn’t go home because she was hurt.

But she couldn’t go home.

And she was hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

Rupert wasn’t a stranger to the uneasy feeling that made itself home in his stomach all day. Still, he had yet to grow comfortable with it. Buffy needed to be alone, of course she did. Even if Willow’s optimism won out and Angel had been spared, a concept he couldn’t make himself feel more than displeased at, Buffy wouldn’t have gone to school. Her absence was to be expected. 

He did look for reasons to stay at school past the final bell. He tidied the library, though the police department did most of that. If Buffy were there, they could train. Or, rather, not train because Buffy’s had quite enough battles for the time being, but they could discuss it, at least. He needed to know what happened for the watcher’s journal, and, to be frank, Buffy might be able to use a confidant. If she did have to kill Angelus… Well, there was a reason that Rupert prefered not to go home, why he had been sleeping on the couch, and perhaps he could help Buffy, if only in knowing that she wasn’t the first to feel like he hoped she wasn’t. Rupert felt sick at the thought of Angel staying in their lives, but Buffy was far too young for that kind of ache. 

Nobody should have that kind of ache. 

As Rupert walked up the stairs to his apartment, something suddenly emerging from the shrubbery had him grabbing for his stake. The hard plastic of his finger splints clashed with the wood and he dropped it, then fumbled for a moment before looking up to see who was surprised him. 

A protective instinct overrode his intense confusion as to why Buffy was hiding in the bushes when he saw her face. She was scared, and somehow smaller than he had ever seen her. 

“God, Giles…” She said, looking between his black eye and broken fingers, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come.” She began to leave, but Rupert touched her shoulder with his good hand gently. 

“This has nothing to do with you.” He said quickly, then took a deep breath. “Come inside, please. ” He heard the earnestness in his own voice, but couldn’t make himself be embarrassed of it if he wanted to. She looked him in the eye and he could tell that it had been too long since she had slept. Not exactly surprising, but saddening nonetheless. Slayers didn’t need much sleep, so it meant a lot that her exhaustion was showing. 

Buffy didn’t speak until she was sitting on the pulled out couch bed Rupert had neglected to make that morning. He supposed he could have slept in the guest bedroom, but the decorations didn’t suit him, and he prefered to have it ready for actual guests. Buffy wasn’t quite looking him in the eye, and her voice wavered.   
“My mom kicked me out.” 

Rupert couldn’t find the words he was looking for. Surely Joyce didn’t throw her daughter out for… Well, he didn’t know what for exactly, but Buffy had just saved the world. He would call her. He didn’t know how to explain why the librarian- did she still think he was only the librarian? He stopped his train of thought, realizing that it had been too long since he said anything.   
“I’m sure whatever was said was said in anger, Buffy. I can phone-” he began but was cut off. 

“It doesn’t matter. She’s never gonna understand. She just wants me to be everything I’m not allowed to be.” Buffy closed her eyes, and her voice broke. “And Angel…” 

There were still roses upstairs. Rupert couldn’t stay up there long enough to clean them. 

He pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly as she began to sob.   
“You can stay here as long as you need to.”


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs. It wasn’t until she opened her eyes that she realized she wasn’t in her bedroom, and the weight of everything that happened settled upon her. 

With willpower that wasn’t usually required for getting out of bed, Buffy got up and walked into the kitchen, still in her overalls from the night before. 

“I wasn’t sure what you normally take for breakfast.” Giles said, looking over his shoulder. “I’m going to the grocery today if you’d like to make a list.”

“You don’t have to…” Buffy started, not sure how to continue. He didn’t have to act like a dad, is what she wanted to say. “I’ll only be here for a few days. I can slay-for-pay or something, rent in Sunnydale isn’t too bad.” She half-joked, sitting at the kitchen island. She wasn’t sure if her mom would take her back, but even if she did, Buffy didn’t think she could live there again. It wasn’t fair to her mom, and Buffy couldn’t handle the pressure of protecting her feelings every time she went patrolling. She could probably find a dingy little place somewhere, she was pretty sure April Fools was hiring. 

Giles was putting the food on two plates silently. Buffy took that as an unspoken agreement until he sat across from her and looked her in the eye seriously.   
“I would…” He paused, ad if searching for words. “I would like you to have a home here. Temporarily if you prefer, but it will always be open to you.”

Buffy didn’t feel good. She didn’t think she could, at least for a long time. But she felt relief, and that was enough to make her smile softly at the table.   
“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only thing I know for sure about this fic is that it isn't done. I am more than open to constructive criticism, that's a big reason why I'm posting it, as well as ideas for future chapters! I have vague ideas but they all contradict each other as of now.


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